American Wind Energy Association names Tom Kiernan CEO
The announcement was made by the Chair of AWEA's Board of Directors, Tom Carnahan. "Bringing Tom Kiernan aboard as CEO represents a huge win for AWEA and another step forward in our efforts to elevate wind energy's role as a critical national resource," said Carnahan.
"Tom brings the right combination of bipartisan, practical experience at the national and state levels as well as in small, rural communities where wind energy is most often developed. His respected management style and significant executive abilities, combined with his skills as a communicator, will ensure that AWEA's voice and potential are leveraged not only in Washington but, even more importantly, in the communities in which our members operate," Carnahan said.
Kiernan commented, "I am honored and excited to take on this role at such a critical time in our nation's history. With wind energy building over 40 percent of new electrical generation in the U.S. last year, the massive public support for more renewable energy, and the recent extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) by Congress and the President, we have a unique opportunity to work together to make wind energy a more integral part of our national energy portfolio."
Data Loggers Bring More Light to Remote Medical Clinics
The WE CARE Solar team required a better way to log system performance data and monitor usage patterns to ensure that correctly-sized PV power systems were being implemented in the medical clinics.
The End to the California Solar Initiative (CSI)
Decreasing incentive over time will help build resilience and not inflate the market. It is also important to offer varying levels of incentives for residential, commercial, affordable housing, and non-profit in order to ensure equality for the benefits of solar, and help those who need it most.
Energy Management System with Certificate and Certification Mark
SIMONA AG is one of the first companies in the plastics industry to have introduced an energy management system in accordance with EN ISO 50001. Energy management systems (EnMS) offer a systematic approach to recording and assessing energy demand and improving energy efficiency. Third-party assessment and certification by TÜV SÜD offers further opportunities.
Case Study - Home Solar Panel Installation Leads to 115% Savings!
The photovoltaic home solar panel array was installed in October of 2011. The system was designed to offset approximately 77% of the annual home power bill with an average savings of around $200 dollars per month over the 40 year expected life of the system.
Solar jobs outnumber ranchers in Texas, actors in California
There are more solar energy workers in Texas than there are ranchers. In California, they outnumber actors, and nationwide, America has more solar workers than coal miners.
Those stats come from solar research group The Solar Foundation, which rolled out a map last week showing which states have the most solar jobs. Unsurprisingly, sunny states like California and Arizona are near the top of the list. But some Northern states like New Jersey and Michigan -- not known for their splendid weather -- also show a high number of solar jobs.
What those states lack in climate they make up for in high electricity prices and favorable tax and regulatory policies, which attracts solar developers, said Andrea Luecke, executive director of The Solar Foundation.
Solar supporters are going on the offensive about their field's jobs angle. The industry receives considerable government support, and talking about its employment advantages broadens the conversation beyond global warming.
ABB bets on solar power with $1 billion takeover
Swiss industrial group ABB ( ABBN.VX ) is to buy U.S. solar energy company Power-One Inc ( PWER.O ) for about $1 billion, betting that growth in emerging markets will revive a sector ravaged by overcapacity and weakening demand in recession-hit Europe.
The world's biggest supplier of industrial motors and power grids said on Monday it had agreed to pay $6.35 per share in cash for Power-One, the second-largest maker of solar inverters that allow solar power to be fed into grids.
The offer price is 57 percent above Power-One's closing price on Friday, boosted by $266 million in net cash held by debt-free Power-One. Stripping out its cash pile, Power-One's enterprise value stands at $762 million, valuing the bid at a more modest 6.4 times 2012 core earnings.
The Solar Cell That Turns 1 Photon into 2 Electrons
Solar cells are picky. If an incoming photon has too little energy, the cell won’t absorb it. If a photon has too much, the excess is wasted as heat. No matter what, a silicon solar cell can never generate more than one electron from a single photon. Such harsh quantum realities severely limit the conversion efficiency of photovoltaic cells, and scientists have spent decades looking for work-arounds.
Now, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Excitonics have published a compelling case that the key to greater solar efficiency might be an organic dye called pentacene. In today’s issue of Science Daniel Congreve, Jiye Lee, Nicholas Thompson, Marc Baldo and six others show that a photovoltaic cell based on pentacene can generate two electrons from a single photon—more electricity from the same amount of sun. Scientists have suspected for some time that this might work; today’s paper is proof of concept.
The key is a phenomenon called singlet-exciton fission, in which an arriving photon generates two “excitons” (excited states) that can be made to yield two electrons. Previous researchers had accomplished similar tricks using quantum dots (tiny pieces of matter that behave like atoms) and deep-ultraviolet light. “What we showed here,” Baldo says, in addition to using visible light, “is that [this process] works very, very effectively in organic materials.” Full Article:
Peel-And-Stick Solar Power
Peel-and-stick, or water-assisted transfer printing (WTP), technologies were developed by a group at Stanford and have been used before for nanowire based electronics. A new partnership between Stanford University and the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has conducted the first successful demonstration using actual thin film solar cells, NREL principal scientist Qi Wang said.
The university and NREL showed that thin-film solar cells less than one-micron thick can be removed from a silicon substrate used for fabrication by dipping them in water at room temperature. Then, after exposure to heat of about 90°C for a few seconds, they can attach to almost any surface.
Wang met Stanford's Xiaolin Zheng at a conference last year where Wang gave a talk about solar cells and Zheng talked about her peel-and-stick technology. Zheng realized that NREL had the type of solar cells needed for her peel-and-stick project. Full Article:
Overview of Carbon Capture
Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage is a transitional technology mitigating climate change as we implement proven alternative energy technologies.
Fuel Cells Backup Critical Infrastructure
Fuel cells help reduce grid dependency and mitigate financial losses from power outages while keeping critical infrastructure up and running. No longer an environmentalist's pipe dream, fuel cells' reliability, scalability and wide range of fuel sources are saving money for companies in a variety of industries, and making dependable access to emissions-free power a reality.
Lithium-Ion Energy Storage Safety
Energy storage systems, like any energy or power system, carry some degree of risk. With today's technology, these risks are largely understood and can be effectively reduced or mitigated.
Potential risks of smart grids are underestimated
According to the study 'Security & Safety in a Smart Energy World', presented by TÜV SÜD at the opening of the 2013 Hannover Messe, the energy and manufacturing sectors are underestimating the potential risks involved in modernising power grids; awareness of the vulnerability of smart grids is negligible and protective action is rare.
Leading Edge Erosion on Wind Turbines
Awareness is growing in the wind industry about the severe impact that blade leading edge erosion can have on wind turbine output. Recent research shows that erosion can lead to a loss in annual energy production (AEP) of up to 20 percent, costing thousands of dollars.
Largest Wind Farm In Southern Hemisphere Opens Down Under
The 420 megawatt Macarthur wind farm was opened in the state of Victoria on Friday. It is the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere and its 3 megawatt Vestas turbines are the largest in Australia. The Mcarthur Wind Farm is actually the first project to use Vestas’ V112-3.0 MW wind turbines. The project’s expected operating capacity is 35% and its cost was almost exactly one billion dollars.
One billion dollars may sound like a lot of money, probably because it is, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good deal. The wind farm has an operating life of 25 years and if a 5% discount rate is used for the cost of money, it will generate electricity at about 6 cents a kilowatt-hour. While this is slightly higher than the average price of electricity generated from coal in Australia, it does have the very large advantage of being non-fatal on both the personal and planetary scales. It’s also cheaper than electricity from new coal plants and is a major reason why Australia is extremely unlikely to ever build any new coal capacity.
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